Bad Mood Strategies #2

Choose Viable Strategies to Improve your Mood

If money or your economic circumstances are getting you down, then start by realizing that, in Dan Hannan's trenchant phrase: You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.*

This applies to governments just as it does to companies and individuals. Of course, governments also reduce your wealth not just with taxes, but also by depreciating the value of your money: this is general inflation, nowadays euphemistically and highly misleadingly called quantitive easing!

Stop living beyond your means! When you're in a hole, stop your self sabotage - the secret of success is to stop digging! Resolving your financial problems will change your life as well as drastically improve your outlook!

Once you have come up with some strategies to improve your mood, it's a good idea to both write them down and test them out. Documenting what works and what doesn't work is generally a good idea, it helps you bring them to mind when needed.

Avoid Self Sabotage

But your self-sabotage mechanism will not want you to improve your bad mood. It feeds on your negativity, and will attempt to stop you accessing these strategies. So don't procrastinate, you can change your life by collecting them all in one place. Ensure they're readily available for when you find yourself trapped in a bad mood and need to use one.

Which Strategies are more Accessible

Now let's look at your bad mood strategies, some will be easy to implement, and some more difficult. The secret of success here is to invest the time and energy to assess the availability of each strategy in advance:

Which ones take a lot of time? If watching a favorite movie, or reading an inspiring book improves your mood, then how long is it? How much time does it take?

Which ones require special circumstances? If dancing improves your mood, then you need the space to dance.

Which ones require particular people or equipment? If talking to your significant other helps, then you need to be able to contact them and they need to be readily available. If a favorite song can improve your mood, then you need some way to play it. A movie needs a screen...

So categorise each strategy as easy, medium or difficult to implement, which includes how long each takes.

Some will only take a very short while to access, such as consciously smiling at something pleasing and recalling a happy incident. Others take more time. Watching a movie or going for a walk on the mountain with your dog can be very time-consuming.

Create a Dozen or More Easy Ones

The secret of success is to choose at least a dozen which don't take a lot of time, don't need a lot of stuff, and don't require special circumstances. You'll change your life by spending however much time it takes to come up with these favorites.

You don't have to be in a really bad mood to use these strategies. Any time you're not on top of the world, you can use one to lift your spirits. The more you use them, the more available they will be for you when really needed!